Friday, May 15, 2009

More Federal Keystone Kops

They are alleged to be "elite" and "sophisticated" but even a Google search was too difficult for them! It took a newspaper to tell them that they had hired a crook

An elite crime-fighting agency, responsible for tracking the dirty cash of criminals, accidentally [negligently, more like it] employed a man who had supplied drugs and allegedly offered money-laundering services. The highly secretive Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre has been forced to stand down disgraced former Gold Coast barrister Paul Darveniza. Darveniza managed to pass through the federal agency's police record and security checks and was employed late last year to monitor gambling transactions in northern Australia.

I have deleted the remainder of this article (though I retain a copy of it) in response to a request from Mr Darveniza's solicitor. I received from his solicitor, Travis Burch, a request to delete the entire article. I replied with a request for more information. Mr Burch emailed in reply:

You have stated that there were many allegations in the article relating to Mr Darveniza, I would advise you that this is somewhat inaccurate, as there only two allegations central to the article:

* The article centered around the claim that AUSTRAC had failed to screen Mr Darveniza in a proper manner, or had made an error in hiring him; and

Mr Darveniza denies these allegations, and was forthright regarding past mistakes. On 19 June 2009, Thomas Story (Acting Chief Executive Officer of AUSTRAC) gave testimony to the to a Senate Estimates hearing that confirmed Mr Darveniza’s version of events. He stated:

“Mr Darveniza was the successful applicant in a merit based selection process for a senior manager position in gaming supervision—the area we talked about earlier—within the Brisbane office of AUSTRAC. When he applied for that position, Mr Darveniza declared on his security clearance forms his previous criminal record for the supply of drugs, which involved two counts in December 1996 and in January 1997. Even though no convictions were recorded against him, there was an independent vetting contractor who interviewed Mr Darveniza as part of our normal security process. He decided that, as the offences were 11 years prior and there were no other matters of interest, he was suitable for a protected level of clearance. This is the lowest security clearance rating within AUSTRAC For that level of clearance checks are normally required only for five years and it applies to persons who would not be expected to have access to higher levels of intelligence or enhanced intelligence documents.

When it was found that Mr Darveniza had been disbarred from practicing law in Queensland and New South Wales, we secured a second security vetting contractor who then completed further checks on Mr Darveniza in accordance with the Commonwealth Protective Security Manual process for reviewing an individual’s security clearance when such concerns are raised. This second review, which was by a different security vetting consultant, again recommended that he was suitable to hold a protected level of clearance.”Thank you for your email, I am pleased you are keen to assist, and as such, I am happy provide further information.

Mr Darveniza has been open and honest about his past, and most importantly, has attempted to move on from past deeds. Since the incidents listed above he has:

* Operated a successful Business assisting businesses to comply with legislation; and

* Served as President of the Surfers Paradise Chamber of Commerce; and

* Obtained a Masters in Law in 2006; and

* Was employed with AUSTRAC (until 18 months ago).

The removal: Mr Darveniza petitioned the Courier Mail to remove the article from their website on the following grounds:

1. Publication of the article is a violation of Criminal Law (Rehabilitation of Offenders) Act 1986. As the article exceeded the acceptable timeframe for the publication of old offences.

2. The comments published were incorrect and defamatory in nature.

Mr Darveniza has attempted to move on with his life after some serious errors in judgment over 15 years ago, and hopes you can assist in this matter.

More crooked Victorian cops fired

A VETERAN detective who was secretly recorded wishing death on every Victoria Police corruption investigator was sacked yesterday. Det-Sgt Denis Linehan was dismissed after pleading guilty to a fraud-related offence. The Office of Police Integrity has recommended Linehan be charged with other criminal offences relating to allegations he tried to sabotage a double murder inquiry in which a fellow officer was the prime suspect. That officer, has since been charged with murder.

The Herald Sun has also discovered Victoria Police last month sacked another police officer, Sen-Constable Joseph McDermott, 38, after he was found to be almost five times over the limit when he crashed his car through a freeway guard. McDermott was taken by ambulance to Geelong Hospital, where a blood sample showed his blood alcohol reading was .234. He was convicted in January of exceeding .05, dangerous driving and unlicensed driving.

Linehan and McDermott are the first officers dismissed since Simon Overland became chief commissioner in March. Mr Overland wasn't personally involved in the two sackings, but he is pushing for State Parliament to quickly introduce new powers to sack rogue officers. It took Victoria Police more than 12 months to get rid of Linehan and McDermott.

The Herald Sun revealed late last year that 168 police with criminal convictions -- including drug trafficking, serious assaults, perverting the course of justice and misconduct in public office -- were still serving members of Victoria Police.

Linehan, 47, was accused during explosive OPI hearings of hindering a police investigation into a double murder. The former armed robbery squad detective has denied the accusation. Secretly taped telephone calls between Linehan and his long-time friend and former detective were played during the OPI hearings last June. In one call, Linehan described police corruption investigators as "the filth" and said he hoped "every one of them dies".

Garry Livermore, counsel assisting the OPI, suggested the calls showed Linehan was trying to find out who was on the double murder taskforce, was monitoring its progress and was trying to interfere with potential witnesses. He was accused of sharing sensitive information about the double murder with his friend, who has since been charged with murder. OPI director Michael Strong recommended in a report to State Parliament that Linehan be charged with perjury, attempting to pervert the course of justice, misconduct and attempting to mislead the OPI. No such charges have been laid against Linehan.

It was his guilty plea in February to a charge of obtaining a financial advantage by deception that led to his sacking yesterday. Linehan deceived an insurance company by falsely claiming his former wife -- and not their son -- was involved in a car accident.

Australian special forces in Afghanistan are pleading for better protection against roadside bombs as they approach perhaps the most intense fighting season they have experienced in the conflict. ABC TV's Lateline program has revealed that a majority of the patrol vehicles used by a major group of Australia's elite soldiers have not been given the extra armour that can help protect against improvised bombs.

At the start of April, two diggers were wounded while driving through southern Uruzgan province. An improvised mine exploded under their patrol vehicle and one soldier nearly died after suffering severe wounds to his legs and lower body. He is recuperating in a hospital in Sydney.

Some soldiers are disappointed and others are angry because the patrol vehicle lacked the armour that, through different avenues, soldiers have been requesting for nearly two years. Neil James from the Australia Defence Association says it is a legitimate concern. "You should always listen to the soldiers and the commanders in the field, particularly when they tell Defence bureaucrats about what type of vehicle they need to fight," he said.

Extra armour has been tested and some of the patrol vehicles have been given extra protection, but the next phase of what has been called "up-armouring" has not happened. It probably will not happen before the current northern summer has finished. That means there will be no new armour through what is expected to be the most intense fighting season experienced by Australian soldiers.

Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon says that in general, the soldiers have what they need. "Absolutely. Nothing holds my focus more than ensuring that our troops in theatre have all the capability and protection they need, to do their job as effectively and efficiently as possible," he said. "We are constantly reviewing those concepts, and I'm absolutely satisfied they have all the protection and capability they need."

Regular diggers in the Mentoring and Reconstruction Taskforce have armoured cars and access to heavily armoured vehicles like the Bushmaster, and they have been through some intense fire fights as well. But Special Forces need fast-moving vehicles they can fight from and that can travel large distances. But for a significant section of the Special Operations troops, more than half of the vehicles available to them have received no new armour for the mission in Afghanistan.

Opposition defence spokesman David Johnston says this problem has been around for a long time. "The particular project the DMO has undertaken to up-armour the vehicles started in 2004," he said. "The objective of having all of these light vehicles mine-resistant and ambush-protected is a very, very difficult one. But I actually think we should have done better that we have to this point in time. This whole project has been stalled now for 18 months. "The problem is that we are exposed. Most of the casualties we've had have been the direct result of IEDs. IEDs are the number one threat to our personnel in Afghanistan. And in saying that I would have thought we would have done better, sooner."

So ANZ has a $500 million exposure to the failed Timbercorp tax deduction empire. What fools. It's hard to know for whom to feel the most scorn - bankers stupid enough to back inherently flawed businesses or the mugs suckered into buying products on the lure of tax deductions - and the salesmanship that tends to come with particularly fat commissions.

And then there's Great Southern Plantations, trading presently suspended pending some further attempt at rescue. Ditto the scorn for all involved. Oh, and the various "independent" expert reports that have been purchased by management at various times, never mind alleged "investment recommendations".

But maybe I should tell you what's really my opinion of the rural managed investment scheme industry: it's the biggest single scam in Australian financial history, probably losing more money than HIH [failed insurer] and Bond [failed real estate company] combined. And some parts of the MIS [Managed Investment Scheme] mob have been nearly as flagrantly dodgy as Firepower [purveyors of a fake "fuel additive"].

What's worse is that it's been wilfully helped along by Australia's leading banks, law and accounting firms - never mind the dullard politicians who allowed the disease to fester and spread, only belatedly attempting to limit it in 2007. Mind you, I suppose much the same could be said of HIH and Bond.

How much has been blown? A lot. There's a number floating around that we taxpayers have dropped $4.6 billion on rural MIS this decade - our little donation to the promoters, marketeers and mug punters.

Investors in the schemes will have had opportunity costs of at least that much - what they could have earned putting their funds into mainstream investments not flogged on their "tax effectiveness". And then add on the value of the various schemes that have or will fail outright. There's no shortage.

There are some rural MIS that are legitimate. Perhaps not outstanding investments, but at least legitimate and not based on rip-off commissions and promoters' profits. They are in a minority. At the other end of the game, there have been schemes so dodgy that they admitted in their prospectus fine print that only 20 cents in the investor's dollar was actually going to go into the ground. An investment ratio of 50% was common. It's hard enough to make money out of the land at the best of times, but throw 80% of your capital up against a wall to begin with and, well, you'd have to be stupid not to work that out.

And plenty have been stupid. The belated limits on the rural MIS industry - limiting the game to forestry and insisting a minimum of 70 cents in the invested dollar actually went into growing trees - stopped the worst of it in its tracks but it's also shown how unsustainable key players were.

There will be investors feeling pain here wanting to blame everyone but themselves, particularly the government for curtailing the spread of tax-driven rural schemes that threatened genuine farmers.

Of course the failing members of the industry - after overpricing their questionable products and ripping off customers - will point fingers in every direction other than admit the fundamental flaws of a game that required an unending and growing source of mugs desperate for immediate tax deductions and, perhaps, some feel-good factor about growing trees. Save the planet.

Or maybe it was just solidarity with the bush, a desire to lose money on the land like so many real farmers, that helped keep the game rolling, the punters coming. Certainly the commission structure and marketing incentives helped.

Remember when Westpoint [Ponzi scheme] and its peers were going under? Sales commission of 10% was cited as a factor in the dubious marketing of those mezzanine finance houses by some financial advisers - but commission of 10% has been common for rural MIS. And there has often been more over the years - bonus payments, "marketing" assistance payments, the occasional conference and junket.

Sometimes a window on the racket has been opened by the more legitimate outfits. For instance, on the same June day last year that he "resigned" as Futuris CEO, Les Wozniczka was asked in an interview why Futuris' MIS operation, ITC, was having trouble increasing MIS sales when other tree scheme floggers were doing much better. He answered:

"This year's MIS product from ITC is more highly rated than in previous years and is one of the most highly rated in the market. Feedback we have had is that notwithstanding our ratings, this year has seen increased competition from 'low-doc' and 'no-doc' packages. Sales can also be highly sensitive to commissions paid. ITC has a conservative policy in relation to the financing of MIS investment, with the result that it has had minimal defaults from investors/borrowers. ITC has not moved away from rigorous application of its policy."

It's not hard to read between those lines and form the opinion that Les might have thought the Timbercorps and Great Southerns were, well, less rigorous.

ITC is still plugging away, not particularly successfully from an investment point of view, but it has a business. Similarly, Gunns still has an MIS business. Like ITC, it doesn't run on the sort of numbers that made Timbercorp and Great Southern such cash machines during more trusting, less thinking times. In an interview two years ago, Gunns executive chairman John Gay was asked why his company sold its timber MIS so much more cheaply than the competitors - $6000 a hectare. Gay answered:

"Well, we started off with a reasonably low price because our view was that we wanted to get a large amount of trees in the ground to develop a pulp mill and we set the prices with a very reasonable margin for Gunns and a good investment for the investors and we've stayed on that line."

By comparison, Great Southern Plantations' current project was charging $10,000 a hectare, 66% more than Gunns. The extent of the profiteering in the industry before the Howard Government finally acted in 2007 was astounding. In June 2006, an Australian Financial Review feature on the rural tax schemes cited the example of a genuine listed agribusiness company, Tandou, selling its Millewa vineyard to Great Southern for $10 million.

"Tandou got about $45,000 a hectare for the property, which included 178 hectares of developed vineyard and valuable water rights, a pretty good price in the current climate," the AFR reported. "In June, Great Southern took Millewa and three other vineyards and sold the package to the public for about $78,000 a hectare as the 2006 Wine Grape Income Project... The $78,000 doesn't buy investors any land, but covers the cost of running the vineyard for the next 20 years plus a profit margin."

Yes, folks, as incredible as it seems to a rational soul, the scheme operators kept the land.

One of the ways the scam lasted for so long is the time it took for tree investors to find out the product was a dud. You can sell a lot of other schemes while waiting for the first rotations of blue gums to yield less money than promised. Great Southern's first rotation infamously proved to be such a poor deal that the company kicked in cash to dress up what the wood was actually worth. Hey, there were other investors out there to be harvested - better keep the faith.

Timbercorp had told the 1999 crop of investors that they would start to see money from some of their trees this year - but before Timbercorp fell over, it seemed the gums were taking 12 years rather than 10. No surprise. For those suckered into Timbercorp schemes, they are left with the most appalling legal mess - owning the trees, but not the land, with great uncertainty about who, how and for how much someone else might tend and harvest the crop over several years to get back, well, not a great deal. I suppose punters who went into it wanting a tax deduction certainly had their wish granted.

As we wait for Great Southern to unveil whatever their latest rescue plan might be, lest their clients find themselves in the same boat as the Timbercorp victims, I have a question: will KPMG partners band together to make a takeover bid for the company? That would seem a reasonable thing to do if said KPMG partners still stand behind the wit and wisdom of the "independent expert reports" prepared by their firm for Great Southern's attempt at restructuring earlier this year.

For an example of the reality of "independent expert reports", the January 12 KPMG effort on Great Southern's proposal for investors in the 1998 hardwood timber plantation project to swap their forestry lots for Great Southern shares is as good as any. KPMG managed to come to the recommendation that the offer was in the best interests of the growers as a whole and that it was both fair and reasonable - an amazing effort given the major and many qualifications KPMG itself then placed on its own recommendation.

Gee, KPMG said, this is a fair and reasonable offer. Really? As the KPMG report itself notes, the Great Southern share price the day before (the report was published) was 17.5 cents, the swap was on the basis of shares being worth 28.45 cents, they'd have to be trading at 44 cents in August for the growers to break even on the deal and the company had just suspended the paying of dividends. And it says this as well:

"The opinion of the company's auditor, Ernst & Young, in relation to Great Southern's financial statements for the year ended 30 September 2008 is unqualified but includes an emphasis of matter in relation to inherent uncertainty regarding Great Southern's ability to continue as a going concern in its current form and, therefore, whether it will be able to pay its debts as and when they become due and payable and realise its assets and extinguish its liabilities in the normal course of operations and at the amounts stated in the financial report."

So in January 2009, a participant in the 1998 scheme with half a brain might have had an opinion that differed somewhat from KPMG's "fair and reasonable".

I am not suggesting KPMG are unethical or dishonest but in my opinion, a genuinely independent expert report would find that Great Southern looked like a basket case and a 1998 grower would have to be completely stupid to swap trees that were worth something for shares that might well be worth nothing at all. Instead, KPMG's report kept using a net tangible asset figure for Great Southern of 85 cents a share and suggesting that at some stage, barring any number of bad things happening, the shares were likely to trade at more than 44 cents. Hence my wild erratic fancy that KPMG partners will happily buy all of Great Southern at its last traded price of 12 cents. Then again, they probably won't.

KPMG did eight separate "independent expert reports" (no, I can't type that phrase without quotation marks) for Great Southern's attempted restructuring. The 1998 timber example I've quoted is the best of this particular eight as it does heavily suggest growers ignore the recommendation as they are close to harvesting their trees. I've seen much worse such reports.

Great Southern is a company that used to pull in the thick end of half a billion dollars a year from punters seeking the up-front tax deduction and whatever story was told about agricultural returns. The rural MIS industry overall used to take between $1.3 billion and $1.5 billion a year and most of it - Great Southern and Timbercorp have been the Big Two - doesn't look too flash.

This should be absolutely no surprise. Corporations with highly questionable business models have this habit of eventually failing. At some point the greed gets to them. However many millions the boys at the top have pulled out, the structure finally proves unsustainable.

As for the ANZ Bank, there's another touch of the cultural failure here that marked its involvement in Opes Prime [collapsed stockbroker].

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Background

Postings from Brisbane, Australia by John Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.) -- former member of the Australia-Soviet Friendship Society, former anarcho-capitalist and former member of the British Conservative party.

Most academics are lockstep Leftists so readers do sometimes doubt that I have the qualifications mentioned above. Photocopies of my academic and military certificates are however all viewable here

For overseas readers: The "ALP" is the Australian Labor Party -- Australia's major Leftist party. The "Liberal" party is Australia's major conservative political party.

In most Australian States there are two conservative political parties, the city-based Liberal party and the rural-based National party. But in Queensland those two parties are amalgamated as the LNP.

Again for overseas readers: Like the USA, Germany and India, Australia has State governments as well as the Federal government. So it may be useful to know the usual abbreviations for the Australian States: QLD (Queensland), NSW (New South Wales), WA (Western Australia), VIC (Victoria), TAS (Tasmania), SA (South Australia).

For American readers: A "pensioner" is a retired person living on Social Security

"Digger" is an honorific term for an Australian soldier

Another lesson in Australian: When an Australian calls someone a "big-noter", he is saying that the person is a chronic and rather pathetic seeker of admiration -- as in someone who often pulls out "big notes" (e.g. $100.00 bills) to pay for things, thus endeavouring to create the impression that he is rich. The term describes the mentality rather than the actual behavior with money and it aptly describes many Leftists. When they purport to show "compassion" by advocating things that cost themselves nothing (e.g. advocating more taxes on "the rich" to help "the poor"), an Australian might say that the Leftist is "big-noting himself". There is an example of the usage here. The term conveys contempt. There is a wise description of Australians generally here

Another bit of Australian: Any bad writing or messy anything was once often described as being "like a pakapoo ticket". In origin this phrase refers to a ticket written with Chinese characters - and thus inscrutably confusing to Western eyes. These tickets were part of a Chinese gambling game called "pakapoo".

Two of my ancestors were convicts so my family has been in Australia for a long time. As well as that, all four of my grandparents were born in the State where I was born and still live: Queensland. And I am even a member of the world's second-most condemned minority: WASPs (the most condemned is of course the Jews -- which may be why I tend to like Jews). So I think I am as Australian as you can get. I certainly feel that way. I like all things that are iconically Australian: meat pies, Vegemite, Henry Lawson etc. I particularly pride myself on my familiarity with the great Australian slanguage. I draw the line at Iced Vo-Vos and betting on the neddies, however. So if I cannot comment insightfully on Australian affairs, who could?

My son Joe

On all my blogs, I express my view of what is important primarily by the readings that I select for posting. I do however on occasions add personal comments in italicized form at the beginning of an article.

I am rather pleased to report that I am a lifelong conservative. Out of intellectual curiosity, I did in my youth join organizations from right across the political spectrum so I am certainly not closed-minded and am very familiar with the full spectrum of political thinking. Nonetheless, I did not have to undergo the lurch from Left to Right that so many people undergo. At age 13 I used my pocket-money to subscribe to the "Reader's Digest" -- the main conservative organ available in small town Australia of the 1950s. I have learnt much since but am pleased and amused to note that history has since confirmed most of what I thought at that early age.

I imagine that the the RD is still sending mailouts to my 1950s address!

I am an army man. Although my service in the Australian army was chiefly noted for its un-notability, I DID join voluntarily in the Vietnam era, I DID reach the rank of Sergeant, and I DID volunteer for a posting in Vietnam. So I think I may be forgiven for saying something that most army men think but which most don't say because they think it is too obvious: The profession of arms is the noblest profession of all because it is the only profession where you offer to lay down your life in performing your duties. Our men fought so that people could say and think what they like but I myself always treat military men with great respect -- respect which in my view is simply their due.

The kneejerk response of the Green/Left to people who challenge them is to say that the challenger is in the pay of "Big Oil", "Big Business", "Big Pharma", "Exxon-Mobil", "The Pioneer Fund" or some other entity that they see, in their childish way, as a boogeyman. So I think it might be useful for me to point out that I have NEVER received one cent from anybody by way of support for what I write. As a retired person, I live entirely on my own investments. I do not work for anybody and I am not beholden to anybody. And I have NO investments in oil companies or mining companies

Although I have been an atheist for all my adult life, I have no hesitation in saying that the single book which has influenced me most is the New Testament. And my Scripture blog will show that I know whereof I speak.

The Rt. Rev. Phil Case (Moderator of the Presbyterian church in Queensland) is a Pharisee, a hypocrite, an abomination and a "whited sepulchre".

English-born Australian novellist, Patrick White was a great favourite in literary circles. He even won a Nobel prize. But I and many others I have spoken to find his novels very turgid and boring. Despite my interest in history, I could only get through about a third of his historical novel Voss before I gave up. So why has he been so popular in literary circles? Easy. He was a miserable old Leftist coot, and, incidentally, a homosexual. And literary people are mostly Leftists with similar levels of anger and alienation from mainstream society. They enjoy his jaundiced outlook, his dissatisfaction, rage and anger.

Would you believe that there once was a politician whose nickname was "Honest"? "Honest" Frank Nicklin M.M. was a war hero, a banana farmer and later the conservative Premier of my home State of Queensland in the '60s. He was even popular with the bureaucracy and gave the State a remarkably tranquil 10 years during his time in office. Sad that there are so few like him.

Revered Labour Party leader Gough Whitlam was a very erudite man so he cannot have been unaware of the similarities of his famous phrase “the Party, the platform, the people” with an earlier slogan: "Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Fuehrer". It's basically the same slogan in reverse order.

Australia's original inhabitants were a race of pygmies, some of whom survived into modern times in the mountainous regions of the Atherton tableland in far North Queensland. See also here. Below is a picture of one of them taken in 2007, when she was 105 years old and 3'7" tall

Julia Gillard, a failed feminist flop. She was given the job of Prime Minister of Australia but her feminist preaching was so unpopular that she was booted out of the job by her own Leftist party. Her signature "achievements" were the carbon tax and the mining tax, both of which were repealed by the next government.

The "White Australia Policy: "The Immigration Restriction Act was not about white supremacy, racism, or the belief that whites were higher up the evolutionary tree than the coloured races. Rather, it was designed to STOP the racist exploitation of non-whites (all of whom would have been illiterate peasants practicing religions and cultures anathema to progressive democracy) being conscripted into a life of semi-slavery in a coolie-worked plantation economy for the benefit of the absolute monarchs, hereditary aristocracy and the super-wealthy companies and share-holders of the northern hemisphere.

A great little kid

In November 2007, a four-year-old boy was found playing in a croc-infested Territory creek after sneaking off pig hunting alone with four dogs and a puppy. The toddler was found five-and-a-half hours after he set off from his parents' house playing in a creek with the puppy. Amazingly, Daniel Woditj also swam two creeks known to be inhabited by crocs during his adventurous romp. Mr Knight said that after walking for several kilometres, Daniel came to a creek and swam across it. Four of his dogs "bailed up" at the creek but the youngster continued on undaunted with his puppy to a second creek. Mr Knight said Daniel swam the second croc-infested creek and walked on for several more kilometres. "Captain is a hard bushman and Daniel is following in his footsteps. They breed them tough out bush."

A great Australian: His eminence George Pell. Pictured in devout company before his elevation to Rome

There are also two blogspot blogs which record what I think are my main recent articles here and here. Similar content can be more conveniently accessed via my subject-indexed list of short articles here or here (I rarely write long articles these days)

NOTE: The archives provided by blogspot below are rather inconvenient. They break each month up into small bits. If you want to scan whole months at a time, the backup archives will suit better. See here or here